House Trouble
by Jiffer
Summary: (Ch. 2) (Takes place between Ep. 10 and 11) Ever wonder what happened those three days Himeno was gone? What if she went to go stay with the Knights at their apartment? Could she survive? (especially when she's in Hayate's room) H/H, R&R!
1. The Arrival

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-House Trouble-

by, Daydreamer

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Disclaimer: I do not own Pretear.

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A/N: This story takes place between Episodes 10 and 11 where Sasame betrays the Knights and joins Saihi and Himeno runs away from home. A three-day span is left out between these two episodes and this is a story filling in those days. We all know that in Episode 11 the Knights and Himeno are living in the Church where Takako first became Saihi, but we don't really know why. What happened to make them decide to live there of all places? Couldn't Himeno of lived at their house? Here's my explanation. Read & Review!

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"Welcome to your new home, Himeno!" Goh said cheerfully as he lowered Himeno's bag onto the floor in the doorway to their apartment building. He flashed the young girl behind him a wide grin. "It's not much I know, but hopefully this will do for the time being."

Himeno walked in and stood beside Goh, surveying the room in apprehension. It certainly looked.... Cozy. There was a couch and tv in the middle of the area, both looking as if they had seen many years, and a liberal amount of trash, half-eaten food, and laundry all scattered here in there in high mounds as if someone had taken them and shuffled them all into a pile and off into a indistinct place to make the room look less messy.

"We tried to clean up the house a bit before you arrived," Goh stated hesitantly as Himeno took another step into the room, "but Mannen, Shin, and Hajime aren't really reliable about this sort of thing...."

"Oh no!" Himeno said quickly, swinging around with a reassuring smile. "It's fine, really! My dad's and my apartment was much worse then this before we moved to StepMother's. This'll be fine!"

Goh looked relieved. "Good!" He reached down and shouldered Himeno's bag again. "Uh, if you'll follow me then, I'll show you to your room and you can get situated."

Himeno laughed. "Thanks." She followed behind Goh as he led her past the couch and TV and down a hallway in the back, next to the kitchen where four doorways were.

"This is the bathroom here," Goh said motioning towards the last doorway on the left. "And this one is your room."

He laid his hand on the handle of the door to the right across from the bathroom and opened it wide. Hemino walked ahead of him into the room, hugging her pack that she was carrying filled with mainly pictures and trinkets from home; the most valuable being a picture and pendant of her mother's. 

She looked around the room noting that it was a lot cleaner then the rest of the house. The beds were even made. She paused. _Beds?_ "Who's room is this?" she asked, staring at the two freshly made beds on opposites sides of the room from one another.

Goh looked uncomfortable. "Well, uh, this was Hayate's and Sasame's room but since Sasame...I mean.... that is to say..."

He didn't complete his words. The shock of Sasame's betrayal was still too painful to speak of.

"Sasame and Hayate shared rooms?" Himeno asked in surprise. She knew that the Knights all lived together but she had figured they would all have separate rooms.

"Er, yeah, all of use do, actually," Goh said sheepishly. "We don't make much money, you know, since our jobs as Leafe Knights demands for us to spend a lot of our time away from work, so we all can't afford a big enough apartment to have our own rooms in. Hajime, Mannen, and Shin all share the same room and Kei and I share the other. It's kinda cramped and Kei snores really loud but...."

"But if I take the room in here, where will Hayate sleep?" Himeno demanded, not liking the idea of sharing a room with Hayate at all. It was tense around them as it was. 

Goh shrugged in embarrassment. "The couch I guess. Typi usually takes that place but I suppose it can go sleep on one of the chairs or with Shin or something..."

Himeno's cheeks reddened a bit. It was just typical of Hayate to give up his room for her and make here feel guilty. He had no right to be so kind especially since this was all her fault. To protect the Knights and her family she had been forced to leave her home and live in Leafina but now that Leafina was destroyed, all because of her inability to become Pretear due to her injuries, she had to go live with the Leaf Knights at their apartment. _I really am such a burden to everyone,_ Himeno thought miserably to herself as she laid down her bag on one of the beds. 

Goh place her other bag with all of her clothes next to it and gave her a reassuring pat on the back. "Don't worry, Himeno. You're going to fit in great here. Hayate will be fine. Remember that this is all just temporary. As soon as we defeat Saihi you can go back home to your family. Chin up, right? It'll all work out in the end, you'll see."

Himeno smiled in spite of herself. "Thanks, Goh."

" Himeno -neechan!" A loud voice came echoing through the hallway into the bedroom. "Hoy! Goh! Is Himeno -neechan here yet?" 

"Ah! I see Mannen and the rest are back now," Goh stated with a laugh as Mannen went racing down the hallway into where Hemino and he were.

" Himeno -neechan!" he said joyously once he saw her. He wasn't alone for long. Soon two more 'Himeno -neechans' were added as Shin and Hajime appeared next to him.

" Himeno -chan! Himeno -chan!" Shin pipped, grabbing Himeno's fingers with his tiny hand happily. 

Himeno giggled. "Hello, Shin...Mannen.... Hajime," she greeted. 

"We're really glad you're going to stay here," Hajime stated. "Even if it is only for a while, this is going to be so much fun!" 

**"Baka!"** roared Mannen, bonking Hajime over the head in a very Goh-like fashion, which Himeno found adorable. " Himeno -neechan isn't here to have fun! She's here to protect her family, remember?"

"Yeah, well there's no reason why she can't have fun while she's here, is there?" Hajime said obstinately, rubbing his head.

"Much as I hate to break up this loving conversation," Goh said in an authoritative like voice, causing the little ones to snap into attention, "but where's Kei and Hayate? They came in with you guys, right?"

"Ah, Kei's in the kitchen with Hayate setting up dinner. Pizza's ok with you, right, Himeno -neechan?" Mannen asked.

Himeno nodded. "Pizza's fine." She tried to keep her tone even, but the mention of pizza caused her stomach to let out a very inopportune growl. She reddened and grinned uneasily. It had been such a very long time she had eaten, and as her dad used to always say, her stomach was something that didn't like to be ignored.

Goh raised an eyebrow at her. "Hm, well we'd better go eat then. Himeno can always unpack later, right?"

"Uh, right."

They left the room with Mannen, Hajime, and Shin bounding ahead of them and entered the kitchen. The kitchen looked a lot like the living room to Hemino. She took in the many pizza boxes, Chinese-food containers, and paper plates that had all been stuffed hastily into a plastic trash can, spilling over onto the floor. There was still some trash they had missed around the sink area and speaking of the sink area.... Himeno couldn't believe how high they had stacked all of the dirty dishes she was seeing. It was like a great mountain of intricately placed Tupperware and glasses all situated to support the weight of the eating utensils above them, but looking like one slight tap of a finger or puff of wind could send them all crashing down. 

Goh noticed her gaze resting on the dishes. "Oh, er, we're still in the process of cleaning the kitchen up. Hayate was suppose to do it but..." He sent a powerful glare at the dark haired Wind Knight that was sitting comfortably at a table where three large, opened pizza boxes were laid opposite of the sink area with his arms crossed. He gave an uncaring grunt and kept his eyes glued on the table in front of him. 

"Hayate," Himeno said hesitantly to the silent Knight. "It's, uh, nice to see you."

Hayate switched his gaze from the table to her. The look gave Himeno a funny feeling in her stomach that she was pretty sure wasn't from her hunger. She felt the heat rise in her neck and she quickly looked away from him. 

"So you guys are ready to eat, are you?" Kei asked, holding a paper plate filled with pieces of pepperoni and cheese pizza. "I took the liberty of getting you a plate before all the other guys could get to it, Himeno," he said coolly, handing the taken-back girl the food. "You don't want to be around when Goh and Mannen try to both get pizza at the same time. It's a little scary."

"Hey! I resent that remark, Kei!" Goh said angrily, balling his fist at the golden-haired Knight of Light. "It's not my fault the little brat's a greedy pig!"

"Who you calling a brat, huh?" Mannen shot at Goh furiously. The foot came swinging around towards Goh's shin until....

"Ow! Why you little--" Goh tried to make a grab at Mannen, but the little Ice Knight dodged out of the way. 

Kei, Hajime, and Himeno broke into laughter as Goh lost balance and toppled over on a chair. 

The weight that seemed to be weighing on Himeno's heart lessened some as a slight fight broke out in the kitchen between Mannen and Goh. She giggled as Mannen ran under Goh's legs and fled into the living room, Goh following madly behind him_. If only every day could be like this,_ she thought. Her smile died some. If only Sasame could be here with them.....

Her eyes lowered. "Sasame....." she said in a hush. She looked up again to find Hayate's gaze on her, giving her an understanding look. They stared at one another for a while, not looking away until a loud crash came from the living room, startling them both.

"Those two had better not of injured my computer!" Kei said in worry, laying down his plate and hurrying towards where the sound had come from. 

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I realize this is short, but I don't want to write a whole lot unless people are interested. I usually write relatively long chapters, so please review if you want me to continue. No Hayate dialogue yet, but rest assured there will be if I decide to continue. ^__^


	2. Of Ice & Kisses

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Chapter 2 - Of Ice & Kisses

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Kei, followed by Himeno and the rest, quickly entered the living room right as a deafening bang rocked through the place. Himeno barely had time to catch a lamp, set off balance by the jolt, that wobbled over on its stand next to her. She steadied it quickly before looking over in surprise at Goh, who was cursing loudly lying flat on his back over a large section of....

"Mannen," Kei said sharply, "how many times have we told you not to turn items in the apartment to ice?" He crossed his arms at the guilty looking white-haired boy.

"I didn't turn any items to ice. Just the floor. You never said anything about the floor," Mannen retorted loudly.

"Wha-...Well, I never!" Kei said in disbelief. He then snorted. "Just leave it to a kid to twist everything you say around to his own advantage."

Goh struggled to get up from his awkward position on the floor. "I'm going to twist more then that when I get a hold of him," he snarled, looking positively livid as he grabbed a chair near him and used it as a crutch to get up from the ice. Slipping and sliding all the way, he managed to wrestle himself back onto normal carpet and locked eyes with Mannen's for a moment. 

Not one to be stupid, Mannen paled at the message written quite clear on Goh's face, turned, and ran down the hallway, making for his, Hajame's, and Shin's room quick as a flash. 

Goh made a move to go after him, but Hayate moved over and stepped in front of him with a firm look on his face. "Goh, don't," he said in warning. "Let Mannen go. You forget that Himeno's with us now, remember?"

Goh's face darkened at Hayate, as it always seemed to whenever he told him what to do. Hayate's gaze never wavered at the mutinous glare Goh sent him and finally Goh relaxed his tightly clinched fists. "You're right, Hayate," he said with great reluctance. "I was out of line there." He then added more quietly. "I'll just get the brat back later when she's not around...."

He backed away from Hayate and turned to the solid ice carpeting behind them. Pointing a hand at it, he sent a wave of heat towards its very center. The ice melted away slowly, shrinking and disappearing until nothing but a small damp spot of water was left in its place. "Shall we go back to the kitchen now?" he asked, turning back towards the group. 

The rest of lunch was rather uneventful to Himeno, although she had a strange suspicion that everyone was staring at her while she ate for some reason. She didn't really know what was so special about her eating pizza; it was getting to be unnerving, really.

"Uh, Himeno.... do you think you might want to slow down some?" Kei asked hesitantly as Himeno stuffed half of another pizza slice in her mouth. 

She munched loudly on her food for a while before swallowing. "Wha- was that?" she asked thickly before picking up a breadstick and savagely biting into it. 

Kei's mouth fell open then he forced is shut. "Uh, nothing," he said quickly as he tried concentrating hard on the food at his own plate. A faint pink spread along his ears.

Hayate let out a snicker of amusement behind his hand. 

Hemino heard and stopped her eating to flash him an accusing glance. "And what is it you find so funny, Hayate?" she asked.

Hayate's laugh ceased at once, and he straightened in his seat when he caught Himeno's glare. His face reddened slightly. "Uh, nothing," he said with false innocence. 

Himeno's eyes narrowed darkly. "Nothing, huh?" There was a dangerous tone in her voice.

Hayate fidgeted uncomfortably. "Er, I, uh, -- Oh, I just remembered, Mannen's not gotten any pizza yet. I should go bring him some." He got up from his seat with a bolt and grabbed an extra paper plate. He started stacking pieces of leftover pizza onto it, trying not turn any redder then he was already.

Goh arched an eyebrow at his awkwardness in suspicion. "I was going to bring him some later, Hayate. I always have. You getting him some isn't really necessary. Besides, since when did you start caring about Mannen?" 

"Yes, well," Hayate looked embarrassed for a moment. "I, um, thought that since you two were right now angry at each other, it would be better for me to bring him something, that's all."

"How unnaturally thoughtful of you," Goh stated, staring hard at Hayate. "But even you would have noticed long before now, Mannen's and my fights are never really serious."

"They always seemed serious to me," Hajame muttered at his seat, but everyone heard him anyway.

Kei shook his head. "You and Mannen certainly have a relationship beyond anyone's comprehension, Goh. I don't even quite know what to call it."

"Oh, come on you guys, you all know that I never really mean any of my teasing. We're just playing," Goh stated, surprised at everyone's amused looks.

"So you say," Kei stated, smiling as he got up from his seat. He picked up his plate and napkin and put them in the trash can, or, rather, on top of the trash can since the trash was too high above the rim for him to put it in. "Well, I'm done," he announced. "And if I am not very much mistaken, it's Hayate's turn to do the dishes this time."

Goh chuckled and got up from the table too. He patted Hayate, who was still standing at the table with a plate of pizza in hand, on the back sympathetically with a smirk. "Tough luck for you, mate." He took the plate from Hayate and handed it to Hajime. "Here, Hajime, go tell Mannen to hurry up and eat this. We're going on patrol in ten minutes."

Hajime took the plate and nodded vigorously. He jumping up from his chair and motioning Shin to follow him. 

Himeno watched the two young boys leave with some misgivings. "Patrol?" she asked Goh. "Does that mean you're going to look for Mayouchuu?"

"Yep," Goh said happily, massaging his fists at the thought. "With Saihi back in near full power and all, Kei believes that the Mayouchuu will be increasing their activities now."

"Then shouldn't I go with you?" Himeno asked, raising from her chair at once.

"I don't think that will be necessary," Kei said. "It would be best for you to stay here at the moment and get settled in. If we find anything, we can always come and get you or take care of it by ourselves."

Himeno bit her bottom lip in worry. She didn't like the idea of them being out there without her, but she also didn't want to leave the apartment just yet. The risk of being seen was something she didn't want to mess with at the moment. If her parents even got a whiff of where she might have gone, Himeno would have not only the problem of being found and having to try to protect her family somehow again but also would be looking at getting the knights into trouble.

"Aw, don't worry, Himeno," Goh said cheerfully, misinterpreting her silence for fear. "We're not going to leave you here all alone. Hayate's going to stay with you and clean the kitchen. Aren't you, Hayate?" The taunt in his voice was clearly evident.

Hayate gave Goh an annoyed glare. "Yeah."

"Well there we go!" Goh clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Well, now that that's cleared up, we'd better get on going, Kei. The Mayouchuu aren't going to go find themselves." He strolled over to Hemino and put his hand on her shoulder. "See you later, Himeno. Oh, and Hayate, don't forget to take out the trash while we're gone."

Goh then did something very unexpected and startling. He stooped down some towards Hemino and planted a soft kiss on her cheek.

Himeno's eyes widened in surprise and her whole face flooded with red. There was an odd flutter in her chest even as Goh straightened and withdrew his hand. He gave Hayate a wolfish grin. "Behave while we're gone, got it, Hayate?" he said.

Hayate's face looked similar to Himeno's in the since that it was burning red, but his expression was quite the opposite. Daggers of barely repressed cold fury and shock was being sent from his eyes in Goh's direction which said very clearly do-that-again-and-you-die, but Goh took them all in cool stride, hardly even flinching. He left the room with a jolly wave and was followed close behind by Kei, who held a very perplexed looked in place of his usual confidence.

Himeno didn't respond when Kei said goodbye to her over his shoulder, but looked to be off into a far away land. Goh had just kissed her. The realization was just beginning to sink in. _Goh had just..... kissed her.... _Everything seemed to go out of focus, even Hayate, who was giving her a rather searching look with his deep blue eyes. 

Himeno had never been kissed before. At least by anyone of the opposite sex. She had always pictured the moment to be really romantic, like in one of Yayoi Romance Novels, where it was raining and the man was dark and handsome, almost coming from something out of a dream. He would say something sweet to her while sheltering her under his umbrella and she would blush heroically and sink into his arms as he embraced her, excepting his kiss with shy relunctance. Now that it had happened, she didn't really see anything at all so romantic about it, especially since it was Goh; but still, why was her face so red all of the sudden then? This was certainly not the 'heroic blush' she had always imagined having. It was more like a really hot fire had been set to her face and it was about to explode.

It was then that she finally noticed Hayate, who was still staring at her oddly. "What?" She asked, finally snapping out of the trance she was in.

"Why did you..." Hayate began in a soft voice but suddenly stopped. His lips thinned. "I mean..... Nothing. Forget it." With a deep frown, he spun around and started busying himself with trash, a look of deep displeasure across his face. 

Hemino stared at him confused. _Why is he so upset?_ she wondered to herself as the red in her face starting to recede_. Could it maybe be..... _

Whatever it was that Himeno was about to think, it was was forgotten for she suddenly remembered that she still had to unpack her clothes and things. Leaving Hayate to his work, she left the kitchen and made her way back to her bedroom where her bags were waiting to be unpacked. 

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Agh! This is horrible! I've never written such a terrible chapter. Gomen! I know the conversations are really pathetic and choppy and that Goh was waaay out of character. I'll try to make it better in the next chapter. I promise. I just mainly posted this chapter to reassure people I had decided to continue. I'm also sorry this was so short. I planned to write long chapters, but I just couldn't bringing is out in me.

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Responses to Reviews:

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Hime-sama - Here it is! Thank you for the kind review ^___^! 

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Haruka - Thank you so much! ^___^ I'm really paranoid that I'm going to make someone OOC in my stories and it's wonderful to hear someone tell me I haven't. Glad you liked the humor too. 

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Catrina Winner - Ah! Arigoto! Thank you tons! I'm glad you think it's intelligent. That makes me feel really, really good! Sorry to keep you in suspence over Himeno and Hayate. I promise. There will be some moments between them sometime soon! 

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YumiYa - No, no, you're not weird. It's flattering that you'd read it even once, let alone again! Thank you! I appricate it bunches. 

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SilverMoonNight - *pulls out a Japanese dictionary and studies it for a while* Erm, Arigato-ga...simas? No, ga-samas! Errrr,.... Shakata ga-nai.... No, wait, that means "It can't be helped.".... Er.. Uhhh.... *stares blankly at the pages for a while then scratches her head* @#$% *gives up and throws book away* You win. I can't speak Japanese (except for some curse words, but they wouldn't be a sutable response, ne?). Anyway, thank you so much for the encouragement. ^__^

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Li-Nikari - *laughs* Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! I agree, Pretear does kick ass!

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Fluffy - Well I was planning to write looooong chapters but..... *fades off* Anyway, thanks much for reviewing. ^___^ I'm very grateful. 

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Nat - An....evil..... T-Typi?...... *shutters and backs away slowly from Nat* Should I be scared? I like my eyes too.... Please! Don't send one after me! Look, I wrote another chapter! Spare me! Pleeease! 

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Mon-Chi-Chi - Thanks for the great review, Mon-Chi-Chi. ^__^ Here it is as requested. 

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shinichi shinji - I hope there's a movie too. With LOTS of H/H moments in it. *grins* Anyway, thanks for saying you liked the humor. 

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Kirei Blossom - Thanks soooo much! I'm so glad you think I kept everyone in character! That's a big deal to me. And you said my description was good too.... *beams at Kirei happily* Thaaank yooou!

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Kithkin - Thank you! I'm glad you liked the idea. Don't ask what gave me the idea.... I think it was a dream.... Or perhaps a really high dosage of chocolate..... I don't know why, but I always pictured the Knights not being much cleaners. To picture Hayate with a feather duster and Sasame with a mop just totally screws with my head.... *tries picturing it* O.o Scary..... 

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Cheri - Glad you liked to topic. Here's the next chapter! Thank you so much for reviewing!

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crimsy - You and me both, sista! To share a room with Hayate.... *starts going off into a daydream* Mmmmm...... Thank's for the review!

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Monica YI - Arigoto! ^______________^

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Elynsynos - Hell yes, Pretear rocks! *laughs* Yeah, the image of Hayate eating pizza really IS funny. I didn't really think about it when I wrote it, but it's kinda an odd thing to think... the Knights eating pizza. Hope the grease doesn't get to them when they're out fighting....

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cooldot - *sobs* I don't know what I was thinking! Thanks for the encouragement to continue! I appriciate it bunches! 

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YumiYa - Damn straight Pretear is one of the best animes ever! Thanks for the great review. ^____^

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Judy - Thanks! I'll try my hardest to finish it, and I'll be sure to add in some good scenes with Hayate and Himeno soon, though they may not be great since romance isn't my forte. 

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Shin-chan - Thanks Shin-chan! Especially for that little correction. *Sweatdrops and bonks head* I'm such a moron! 

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Sasame -Thanks for pointing that out for me, Sasame. I'm sorry for being such a total moron and not catching that. I'm glad you liked. ^_~ 


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